Yarn carrier for knitting machines



Oct. 31, 1950 w. w. SAUNDERS YARN CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHINES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed March 8, 1949 W/NEMNE WS'Auuozns, INVENTOR Oct. 31, 1950 w. w. SAUNDERS 2,528,389

YARN CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 8, 1949 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 N N/NEOENE W. SAUNDERS, I la INVENTOR.

Qct 31, 1950 w. w. SAUNDERS 2,523,339

YARN CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHINES Filed March 8, 1949 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 WINBORNE N- humans, INVENTOR.

AT'TO R NEV Patented Oct. 31, 1950 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE YARN CARRIER FOR KNITTING MACHINES Winborne W. Saunders, Albemarle, N. 0.

Application March 8, 1949, Serial No. 80,277

2 Claims.

This invention relates to full fashion knitting machines and more especially to provide means thereon to prevent damage to the sinkers in the event that the mechanism for retracting the sinkers becomes inoperative during the travel of the yarn carrier.

During knitting on a full fashion knitting machine having sinkers and dividers, it is necessary that the yarn carriers feed the yarn at a point low enough to cause the dividers to engage the yarn and hold it during a knitting operation. This means that since the dividers have their upper edge at a lower elevation than the sinkers that the yarn carriers which are fixed on the carrierbars must have their feeding ends disposed at a level below the top edges of the sinkers and at the end of travel of a yarn carrier and immediately before the carrier starts movement across the top of the dividers and sinkers, it is necessary that the mechanism for retracting the sinkers becomes operative immediately before travel of the yarn carrier takes place because, if the sinkers are not retracted, the lower end of the yarn carrier will engage the top edges of the sinkers and greatly damage both the sinkers and the lower end of the yarn carrier.

-It is an object of this invention to provide means for lowering the yarn carriers to the point where they are normally operated in full fashion knitting machines at each end of the path of travel of the yarn carriers together with means for causing them to immediately move upwardly as they begin their travel along a path which is disposed immediately above the top edge of the sinkers if they were not retracted. In this manner, damage to the sinkers is avoided when they are failed to be retracted.

Broadly the invention comprises having the yarn carriers mounted on alternate carrier bars with the other bars having means thereon for engaging the top ends of the yarn carriers and depressing them at each end of their stroke. These carrier bars having the depressing means thereon are moved during knitting of a stocking blank to correspond to the change in length of stroke of the yarn carriers; the two associated carrier bars on each side thereof having the depressing means will likewise be regulated in their movements to at all times engage the upper ends of the yarn carriers at the ends of their strokes to depress them and to cause their lower ends to be disposed below the level of the upper edges of the sinkers and immediately above the upper edges of the dividers. I l

Some of the objects of the invention having been stated, other objects will appear as the description proceeds, when taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a front elevation of a section of a full fashion knitting machine and showing my invention applied thereto and omitting the needle bar;

Figure 2 is an isometric view of a portion of a section of a full fashion knitting machine and showing a portion of the invention applied thereto and omitting the needle bar;

Figure 3 is a vertical sectional View taken substantially along the line 3-3 in Figure 1;

Figure 4 is a top plan view taken along the line 4-4 in Figure 2 and showing one of the carrier bars with the upper end of the yarn carrier thereon; v

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken through the upper portion of one of the carrier fingers and the carrier bar associated therewith.

Referring more specifically to the drawings, the numeral l0 indicates a portion of a knitting machine frame having a needle bar I l with a plurality of conventional needles l2 therein. The knitting machine also embodies a transversely slotted bar I4 with a top bar [5 disposed thereabove.

dividers l6 and a plurality of sinkers l'l whose upper edges are disposed at a higher level than the dividers I6. The dividers l6 and sinkers I! are disposed in alternate relation to each other in a conventional manner. The main frame It! has rising therefrom a plurality of stands 20 having upwardly opening slots 2| therein in which a plurality of carrier bars, narrowing and wid like but the bars shown clearly illustrate the use to which my invention can be placed on a machine having as many carrier bars as desired.

Now these carrier bars and. other bars, as above stated, are, by. suitable pattern control means, moved backward and forward for the yarn carriers to lay the yarn across the dividers for knitting from course to course and of course during narrowing and widening the length of stroke of the yarn carrier is varied.

Now, the conventional yarn carriers have here- In this slotted bar 14 are mounted for back and forth sliding movement a plurality of tofore been fixedly mounted on their associated carrier bars and, as above stated, during their back and forth movement relative to the sinkers, if the sinkers failed to be retracted during the sweep of the yarn carrier a smash up would occur. Therefore, instead of mounting these yarn carriers in a rigid manner, they are mounted in a slidable and resilient manner for the purposes already stated. This is effected by securing a fitting 3| on a carrier bar 22 by means of suitable screws 26 and this fitting 3! has a substantially vertically disposed guideway therein in which the upper end of the yarn carrier is mounted.

The fitting 3! is oiT-set as at 33 in which are disposed removable guide members 34 and 35 which have lips on their proximate edges which fit over the outer surface of the yarn carriers and which are secured in position by means of screws 36. This allows up and down sliding movement of the yarn carrier in the vertical guideways in the fittings 3| and beneath the members 34 and 35.

The yarn carrier finger has a pin 3'! mounted therein which projects inwardly and is adapted to engage the lower surface of its carrier bar to limit upward movement of the yarn carrier. The yarn carrier has a spring perch so. mounted therein to which a tension spring M i secured, the other end of the tension spring being secured to a spring perch :2 in the lower inturned edge of the fitting 3!.

The spring 4i normally holds the pin it? against the lower edge of the fitting 3i and thus limits upward movement of the yarn carrier. The upper edge of the fitting 3! has a notch cut therein and the upper end of the yarn carrier has a screw 45 mounted therein and projecting backwardly on which is mounted a roller 41,. The depth of the notch 55 limits downward movement of the roller Al and consequently the downward movement of the yarn carrier, as will be presently described.

The yarn carrier has a conventional tube near its upper end and also has a guiding loop 5| intermediate its ends and a tube 53 at its lower end for guiding the yarn from a source of supply not shown to the needles and dividers of the machine. The bars 22 to 25, inclusive, are loosely confined in the stands by means of plates or covers 55 and 55' secured in position by screws 55 and 54. Now, in order to depress a yarn carrier such as 52w for the welt yarn or a carrier 52b for the body yarn, the structures being identical, I mount on the upper ends of each of the covers 55 for the carrier bar stands 20 a right-angular bar 55. The two end pieces namely plates 55 and angle brackets 56 are identical and like reference characters will apply with prime notations added.

Each of the upright portions of the angle bars 56 has a dovetailed horizontally disposed groove 59' therein in which is mounted for sliding movement bars 60 and 60 which may be adjusted in any desired position by means of set screws Bl penetrating the upright leg of the angle brackets 56 and pressing against the bar 50 to lock it in an adjusted position. The outer ends of these bars 68 and 55 have set screws 63 and 63 therein secured in position by lock nuts 6-3 and 64' and these are adapted to engage the roller 4''! at each end of travel of the carrier bar to'press the carrier bar downwardly from the position shown in Figure 1 to the depressed position shown for carrier bar 52-w to the position shown for carrier bar 521) in Figure 1.

The arrangement just described controls the depressing of the yarn carrier 52--w at each end of its stroke the adjustment for the position of the screws 63 when once made will serve for the knitting of the welt and will not have to be changed gradually. However, in knitting a body yarn, for example, or other yarns for which carriers and carrier bars are not shown in these drawings, it is of course apparent that the movement of the depressing means for such yarn carriers 52b will have to be varied at the same time the length of stroke of the yarn carrier 52-b is varied during narrowing and widening. It has already been stated that the yarn carrier bars are indicated by reference characters 22 and 23 and the alternate bars are indicated at 24 and 25 and these are adapted to control the depressing of the yarn carrier 52-b. The mechanism for yarn carrier 52-b is identical for the yarn carrier 5220 and like reference characters will apply with the prime notation added.

On carrier bar 24 for example, there would be secured by a screw 14 a fitting 15 which has a rearwardly projecting portion in the rear face of which is cut a dovetailed groove '45 in which a mating bar I! is mounted for sliding movement. A suitable set-screw 14a is threadably mounted in this member 15 for clampingly holding the bar I? in position. This bar "u? likewise has a downwardly projecting set screw threadably secured therein with a lock nut for holding it in adjusted position similar to the structure already described for the bar and til. The carrier bar 25 likewise has a fitting tt'secured thereon by any suitable means such as a screw 82 and this fitting rises upwardly and on its front face has a dovetailed groove 33 in which is slidably mounted a mating bar 8- and this likewise is confined in position by means of a set screw 86 threadably mounted in the fitting 8t and clampingly engaging the mating bar 84 for holding it in adjusted position. The end of bar 84 which is nearest to bar H has a set screw 81 threadably mounted therein and which is locked in position 'by a lock nut 88 and this set screw 8! of course projects downwardly in the same manner as the set screw H3.

Now, during knitting the bars 24 and 25 will be moved towards each other or away from each other in accordance with the length of stroke of the body yarn carrier 52-h so that at the end of the stroke of the carrier bar 23 the roller 41 will pass beneath the lower end of set screw 18 at one end of its stroke and set screw 8? at the other end of its stroke to depress the yarn carrier downwardly to where the lower end of its tube will be disposed below the tops of the sinkers I! but above the tops of the dividers it and immediately upon movement being imparted to the carrier bar 23 the roller 4'! will rise from beneath the set screw 8'! or the set screw I8 depending at which end of the stroke the yarn carrier 52-2) is located, and will thus cause the lower end of the tube on the yarn carrier to be disposed above the level of the upper edges of the sinkers I! so that in the event that the sinkers should not be retracted there will be no damage done to either of the sinkers or the yarn carrier on account of the elevation of the lower end of the yarn carrier being above that of the upper edge of the sinkers when they are in extended position.

1;; the drawings and specification there has been set forth a preferred embodiment of the invention, and although specific terms are employed, they are used in a generic and descriptive sense only, and not for purposes of limitation, the scope of the invention being defined in the claims.

I claim:

1. In a full fashioned knitting machine having needles, sinkers, and. dividers, and having a carrier bar equipped with a yarn carrier whose lower end is adapted to feed a yarn in close proximity to the needles, the yarn carrier being mounted on the carrier bar for vertical sliding movement, tension means normally holding the yarn carrier in raised position, adjustable means disposed at each end of travel of the yarn carrier and adapted to engage the upper end of the yarn carrier when it has reached the limit of its travel to depress the yarn carrier to cause its lower end to deposit its yarn at a level lower than the top of the sinkers, whereby upon movement of the yarn carrier across the tops of the sinkers, the lower ends of the yarn carrier will be disposed at a higher level than that 00- cupied by the tops of the sinkers, other slidable bars disposed in alternate relation, an additional carrier bar having a yarn carrier thereon and being disposed between the alternate bars and each of the alternate bars having adjustable means mounted thereon adapted to engage a yarn carrier mounted on the additional carrier bar disposed between the alternate bars at each end of the travel of the carrier bar, the alternate bars having the means thereon for engaging the upper end of the yarn carrier on the additional carrier bar disposed between the alternate bars, being movable to cause their depressing means to be moved towards and away from each other in response to narrowing or widening operations to thereby occupy the right position to depress the yarncarriers at each end of travel of the yarn carrier on the additional carrier bar.

2. In a full fashioned knitting machine having a plurality of carrier bars each equipped with a downwardly projecting yarn carrier for feeding a yarn to the needles of a knitting machine, the carrier bars including at least a welt bar and an additional carrier bar for feeding another yarn to the needles, means for mounting the yarn carriers on the carrier bars for vertical sliding movement, tension means normally urging the yarn carriers upwardly, stop means for limiting upward movement of the yarn carriers against the tension of said tension means, adjustable means mounted on the machine and having portions thereon adapted to engage the upper ends of the yarn carrier on one of the carrier bars at the ends of its travel to depress the yarn carrier to a point lower than the upper edges of the sinkers whereby upon movement of the yarn carrier for the welt yarns, the yarn carrier associated therewith 'will move upwardly to traverse the sinkers immediately above the upper edges thereof and out of engagement therewith, a second slidable carrier bar disposed in the machine, additional slidable bars associated with the second slidable carrier bar and each having a projection thereon in alinement with the yarn carrier mounted thereon, the additional slidable bars being movable towards and away from each other in proportion to the movement of the additional carrier bar to thereby cause the projections thereon to engage the upper end of the other yarn carrier upon its back and forth movement to depress the said other yarn carrier at the ends of its stroke.

WINBORNE W. SAUNDERS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 48,139 Germany Aug. 9, 1889 

